SHEPHERD NEAME ESSEX LEAGUE, DIVISION THREE

WESTCLIFF skipper Chris Gladwin saluted his young team’s attitude as they defeated Basildon & Pitsea by three runs.

The game could have gone either way but victory for Westcliff made it three wins on the bounce.

“Basildon should have won it really but the boys just didn’t want to lose,” said Gladwin. “We just kept nicking wickets.”

Westcliff lost their opening four batsmen cheaply but Lewis Groves steadied the ship with 72 runs and Gladwin (45no) helped ensure the visitors reached 216-7, with Darren Thompson taking 4-42 for the hosts.

“Groves played really well indeed with a sensible innings that got us back to a nice little total,” added Gladwin.

“I didn’t know if it would be enough and they got off to a flyer, but we got a few early wickets.

“Their left-hander got 50 but I knew the only way we would beat them was to put them under pressure and we did that.”

Basildon lost two early wickets but Lloyd Lambert (75) and Liam Rouse (30) got them back on track.

But Thompson (21) and Danny Gray (17) were the only other batsmen into double figures as Basildon were bowled out for 213.

Seventeen-year-old Alex Hatton took 3-43 and 15-year-old Tom Baker, Shahbaz Sattar and Gladwin two each.

“We conspired to lose it,” said Basildon captain Michael Gray.

“Lloyd put us in a good position but we just couldn’t get over the line.

“We’ve beaten the top two teams but just do not seem to be able to beat the teams around us, which is frustrating. We just do not seem to get the run of the ball in those games and pick up the points.”

Old Southendian & South-church kept their promotion ambition on track with a 136-run win over visitors Old Brentwoods.

Wicketkeeper Rob Johnston plundered 116 runs and fellow opener Max Craddock got 50 to get the Old Boys off to a strong start.

Jamie Robinson (24), captain Aaron Lucas (21) and Matt Wilson (13) contributed but other bats-men went cheaply before South-endian were bowled out for 285, with Wade Canham taking 4-40.

But Robinson (4-32), Matthew Austin (4-37) and Michael Bunce 2-1 crushed the Brentwoods resistance for 149 runs, with Raheel Ahmed (38) faring best.

“It was a pleasing win for us,” said Lucas. “We batted quite well and the opening partnership was fantastic and got us more than a hundred for the first wicket.

“I was a bit concerned that after a couple of overs of their reply that they were above the run rate but once we broke the second wicket stand I was confident of defending that score.

“It was also good to see our Aussie Jamie and Matthew pick up four wickets each.”

Benfleet’s hopes of victory were dashed when they lost by six wickets away to Woodford Green.

Tony Russ (29) and Gavin Blowes (17) made early inroads but a batting collapse was only arrested by captain Gareth Steed (32), Callum Wheeler (32) and Paul Frensham (22) before the visitors were bowled out for 162.

Frensham (2-34) continued his good form with the ball but Woodford Green posted a winning 163-4 in 34.2 overs.

“Obviously we were disappointed because we were quite confident going into it,” said Steed. “We just didn’t get enough runs really, although Tony Russ batted well.

“Some of our other defeats have been frustrating but we didn’t do too much wrong. We couldn’t have done more with our bowling and fielding it was just that it’s a difficult pitch to bat on and they adapted to it better than we did.”